by Bob Pratico, submitted at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Mar 2022

William Lane Craig. Reasonable Faith, Christian Truth and Apologetics. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1984, 1994, 2008

Introduction
William Lane Craig is a world-renowned, respected philosopher and Christian apologist. He is a Visiting Scholar of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology and Professor of Philosophy at Houston Baptist University. With a Ph.D from the University of Birmingham, England, and a D. Theol. from the the University of Munich, Germany, this book is one of his most popular offerings. Intended primarily as a seminary-level textbook on Christian apologetics, it is accessible to knowledgeable lay readers.

Craig is a well-known adherent of theistic evolution that views God as compatible with a modern understanding about biological evolution. As a literal creationist, I differ with him on that issue and reject theistic evolution as being theologically viable. However, that does not prevent me from benefiting from and recommending his excellent scholarship and research in other areas, particularly apologetic arguments.

Note: the copy I am reviewing is an electronic copy purchased from Olive Tree Bible Software and accessed via the Olive Tree Bible app.¹ Unfortunately, there are no page numbers to reference as there are in Kindle or Apple Book electronic editions; the book simply scrolls from start to finish with no page numbers. As such, I cannot provide page citations and instead refer to section titles.

Summary
Six general observations are in order. First, this edition is Craig’s third update to the book since originally published in 1984. Second, it is not an easy-read; it assumes seminary-level knowledge in philosophy including metaphysics, epistemology and logical arguments. Third, it requires a solid background in science, particularly for the section on the Kalam cosmological argument. Fourth, the book focuses on theoretical issues instead of being a practical how-to manual for apologetics. Fifth, to his credit, Craig is not afraid to give his detractors a fair hearing and accurately presents their views to which he irenically responds. Sixth, it is well documented with an extensive bibliography, lengthy recommended reading list, and almost 700 footnotes.

Craig deals with essential issues emphasizing the difference between knowing Christianity is true and showing it to be true. He philosophically presents the inevitable impact on a life lived without God and offers the classical arguments for the existence of God. He wrestles with the historical knowledge of Christianity. How can one verify the veracity of the historical evidence? He culminates with the historical Christ and his divine claims, finishing with his recommended apologetic for the Resurrection. Finally, he brilliantly offers what he terms the “ultimate apologetic”.

Critical Evaluation
In the introduction, Craig discards postmodernism as an impossibility because he deems the rejection of objective truth as ultimately “unlivable”. He argues that people are not relativistic when it comes to matters of science, engineering or technology. I’m not sure if his perspective was in the original 1984 release or one of the subsequent updates. But fourteen years after the last update, it now is clear that Craig badly underestimated where the culture was headed and was mistaken. On the irrefutable science of gender, every cell in human females have two copies of the X chromosome, while males have one X and one Y chromosome. This is impossible to change. In addition, males and females are distinguished by differing genitalia. Yet, in today’s postmodern culture, in defiance of the irrefutable science, males can arbitrarily decide they are female and vice versa, with the culture accommodating (and even welcoming) their defiance of unalterable objective science. The U.S. Department of State announced that starting April 11, 2022, U.S. passport applicants could self-select their gender and were no longer required to submit any medical documentation, even if their selected gender differed from their other citizenship or identity documents. The State Department is proud to set a precedent as the first federal government agency to offer the X gender marker on an identity document “for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming individuals.”² It is now even outlandishly claimed that it is “possible for men to become pregnant and give birth to children of their own.”³ In March 2022, the state of Oregon instituted “Menstrual Dignity”, bizarrely mandating the placement of tampons in all boys bathrooms.⁴ There can be no further question that our culture has fully embraced postmodernism. As we descend down the rabbit hole into the Wonderland of postmodernism, it is painfully obvious that Craig was sorely mistaken.

On a positive note, Craig emphasizes that apologetics is essential for fostering an ambience where the gospel becomes a viable option for seekers, giving them “intellectual permission to believe.” Additionally, the book admirably focuses on offensive apologetics demonstrating there is good reason to believe Christianity is true, instead of defensive apologetics arguing there is no good reason to believe Christianity is false.

The first part (De Fide) is the strongest section and alone is worth the cost of the book; it should be mandatory reading for all would-be apologists. Craig explores the difference and relationship between faith and reason reviewing the perspective of key thinkers from the medieval, enlightenment and contemporary periods. In his assessment of these thinkers, Craig highlights the crucial distinction between knowing Christianity is true and showing it is true. Some may be surprised that Craig, who is well known as an apologist, makes the argument that one knows Christianity to be true by the self-authenticating witness of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and that evidence and arguments play only a subsidiary role. While evidence and arguments may support the believer’s faith, they are never the basis of their faith. Even unbelievers rely on the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. When someone refuses Christ, it is never just because of insufficient evidence and arguments or intellectual difficulties – it is because he willingly rejects and ignores the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart. Thus, for both believer and unbeliever, Craig properly views the work of the Holy Spirit as paramount.

What then is the proper role of apologetic arguments and evidence in Craig’s view? It is always a subsidiary role to the Holy Spirit in knowing Christianity is true. In showing the faith to be true, apologetics uses reason and logic to create an environment where it becomes intellectually permissible to believe. However, certainty is an unrealistic and unattainable goal; good arguments have greater plausibility than dubiety. Apologetics should seek to appeal to both the head and heart and never distract from the primary aim of communicating the gospel. The apologist needs to be sensitive to moments when apologetics is and is not appropriate.

In the section entitled De Homine, Craig explores the philosophical alternatives to Christianity, laying out the absurdity of life and inevitable descent into nihilism without God. Using cultural apologetics, he urges the apologist to always push the unbeliever to the logical conclusion of his worldview. On this important point, he is absolutely correct; this is an essential first step that is often ignored in apologetics, but one that can pay rich dividends.

De Deo is the meat of the book. Craig presents the classical arguments for the existence of God, starting with Anselm’s ontological argument, then the cosmological argument, followed by the teleological argument (from design) which is the oldest and most popular, concluding with the moral argument. Craig begins a detailed analysis of each argument starting with a lengthy exposition of the Kalam cosmological argument that requires a solid background in science to grasp. Craig goes into far too much scientific detail in this section for anyone without an interest in or degree in physics or cosmogony. For example, here is an extract on Craig’s discussion of vacuum fluctuating models:

Physicists realized that a physical description of the universe prior to the Planck time (10-43 second after the Big Bang singularity) would require the introduction of quantum physics in addition to GR (general relativity). On the sub-atomic level so-called virtual particles are thought to arise due to fluctuations in the energy locked up in the vacuum, particles which the Heisenberg Indeterminacy Principle allows to exist for a fleeting moment before dissolving back into the vacuum.

He does provide an excellent summary of the impact of the Second Law of Thermodynamics on cosmogony. All apologists should understand the Second Law, its impact on cosmogony and how to effectively use it in their logical cosmological arguments.

Craig examines the teleological argument in some detail because of its popularity “roaring back into prominence in recent years.” Based on the fine-tuning of the cosmos for life and recent discoveries on how complex and sensitive a nexus of initial conditions must be for the universe to permit life, this argument is now a powerful one that all apologists should be familiar with. Again though, this section requires a background in science to grasp much of the excellent material that Craig brings to the discussion.

The lengthy section on the moral argument is robust and well done. Craig details the important distinction between objective and subjective values, what the existence of objective values necessitates, and the inevitable consequences if there are no objective values. I know from some of Craig’s other writings that he regards the moral argument to be the strongest argument for the existence of God and the one that he has found to be the most effective with unbelievers. I agree; all serious apologists will benefit from Craig’s discussion here. His discussion of the late Francis Schaeffer’s view on modern man’s dilemma living in a two story universe is useful.

There should be no surprise to anyone familiar with the ontological argument that it can be difficult to grasp. I have personally found it to be challenging and generally ineffective with unbelievers. A solid grounding in philosophy and logic is needed to effectively grapple with Craig’s exhaustive analysis here.

Craig includes a valuable section on the practical application of the classical arguments, emphasizing that the apologist need not claim that he can prove with certainty to the unbeliever that God exists. Rather, the classical arguments for God’s existence incur probability, not mathematical certainty. Most useful is the section where he suggests from personal experience, in what circumstances he has found each argument to be most effective.

The section De Creatione dealing with the historical knowledge of Christianity is verbose but necessary reading. How can one verify the veracity of the historical evidence? In fact, the historical arguments are among the strongest in apologetics. Craig reviews historicism from the medieval through the modern period and correctly points out that, “As people who believe in an objective revelation mediated through historical events, Christians cannot afford to sacrifice the objectivity of history.”

Although Craig has “never encountered a non-Christian who rejected the gospel because of an overt objection to miracles”, he is not afraid to address “the problem of miracles”, which as he points out, embarrassed a number of theologians who subsequently followed the lead of Rudolph Bultmann in demythologizing the Bible. Ultimately, he views this as a case of Christian theism versus Deism (not Atheism) and spends considerable time in a fruitful analysis and rebuttal of Deism.

The final part of the book (De Christo) focuses on historical Christ and his divine claims, and the resulting Christology. It presents extensive material, both pro and con (i.e., the Jesus Seminar and DaVinci Code, etc.), with Craig beautifully defending orthodox Christology. Interestingly, the author advises using this material defensively instead of offensively – i.e., if someone says Jesus was just a good man or teacher, confront him with Christ’s claims.

The book finishes with an extensive section on the Resurrection, summarizing the traditional apologetic in three steps: (1) the gospels are authentic, (2) the text of the gospels is pure, and (3) the gospels are historically reliable. The traditional discussion centers on the credibility of the New Testament witness to the resurrection. While the historical apologetic for the resurrection should be in every apologist’s quiver, Craig argues that the traditional three-step apologetic for the resurrection is today ineffective in dealing with the objections raised by modern Biblical Criticism, and believes two factors undermined the traditional apologetic for the Resurrection. The first was the rise of Biblical Criticism which he records the history of in some detail. The second cause was the tide of subjectivism, as a backlash to the Age of Reason, that swept away an objective approach to belief. Craig highlights N.T. Wright’s massive 800+ page masterpiece The Resurrection of the Son of God as the most important book currently available on the Resurrection today. (I agree as I had the pleasure several years ago of reading it and highly recommend it.)

Ultimately, Craig builds a historical case for the Resurrection using an inductive argument with evidence from three independently established facts: (1) the tomb was found empty by a group of his women followers on the first day of the week following his crucifixion, (2) various individuals and groups thereafter experienced on different occasions and under varying circumstances appearances of Jesus alive, and (3) the first disciples came sincerely to believe in Jesus’ resurrection in the absence of sufficient antecedent historical influences from either Judaism or pagan religions. In short, the historicity of the Resurrection rests on three facts in his argument: the empty tomb, the resurrection appearances, and the origin of Christianity. I find Craig’s argument here to be strong, simple and persuasive. He devotes an extensive detailed discussion to validate each point and comprehensively address the counterarguments. Given the significance of the Resurrection for the faith, Craig’s discussion is invaluable and well worth the time to grasp. To his credit, Craig provides practical advice how to nicely summarize his material into an evangelistic message and a format that is also suitable for personal evangelism.

Conclusion
Craig concludes with what he deems the “ultimate apologetic” that he considers the most “effective and practical” apologetic that will win more people to Christ than the “other arguments in your apologetic arsenal put together.” His ultimate apologetic involves two relationships: the believer’s vertical relationship with God and his horizontal relationship with others. In other words, the ultimate apologetic is one’s life and how it is lived. He hits the theological nail on the head here. All the evidence and arguments in the world are impotent unless backed up by a life lived in faithfulness and love. Despite its difficulty in reading in some parts and almost interminable attention detail in some sections, Craig’s book is a valuable resource for the apologist (or any believer) that is born out of decades of study, experience and life as a faithful witness and servant of Christ. I strongly recommend it.

¹https://www.olivetree.com/store/product.php?productid=17281
²https://www.state.gov/x-gender-marker-available-on-u-s-passports-starting-april-11/
³https://www.healthline.com/health/transgender/can-men-get-pregnant#TOC_TITLE_HDR_1
⁴https://www.oregon.gov/ode/students-and-family/healthsafety/Documents/ODE%20Menstrual%20Dignity%20For%20Students%20Toolkit.pdf